Cartwright Curse: His first wife is murdered by renegade Union men, along with their children. He later falls in love with Lily Bell, who is murdered by The Swede. His bond with Ruth Cole was kept from developing into romance after he is forced into marrying Naomi, the Mormon girl he got pregnant. He only learns Ruth had feelings for him the night before she is executed for killing a man. After this he tries to find Naomi and his son, but can't locate them after their Mormon community scattered after disease and Indian attacks ravaged them. It's possible they're already dead.

Death Seeker: Becomes one very briefly in season 2, due to murdering an innocent man and feeling nothing about it.

Nice Hat: Bohannon has a minor obsession with hats, and he always grabs a hold of one.

Revenge Before Reason: Bohannon overrides any sense of self-preservation or logic if revenge is the reward. This in particular blows up ons his face when he murders a innnocent man because of the illusion this man killed his wife.

Secret Keeper: keeps the secret of Fong aka Mei actually being a woman from Chang.

Shell-Shocked Veteran: Cullen participated in the slaughter of wounded soldiers and medics. It is evident this didn't do him good.

The Sociopath: He isn't even close to being this, but expresses fear of becoming one after not feeling guilty for his brutal murder of an innocent man.

Corrupt Corporate Executive: His Corrupt Corporate Executive credentials are all Truth in Television. The real Durant did set up Credit Mobilier to pay himself for building his own railroad, he did use "oxbow" curves to arbitrarily increase the length of the railroad and get more government money, he did bribe senators, and (as mentioned by Bohannon in their first meeting) he did make a lot of money smuggling embargoed cotton out of the Confederacy during the Civil War.

FaceHeel Turn: He was always something of a Jerkass with some soft spots, but as of the third season, he has also decided to destroy Bohannon. Most of his Pet the Dog moments also vanished with the death of Lily Bell.

Jerkass: While he can be quite a gentleman, Durant cares about profit first and foremost, and he loves to remind people of such.

Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he is very arrogant, corrupt and self-serving, Durant does have empathy and will show compassion when he has no reason to.

Large Ham: Half the appeal of the series is watching Colm Meaney chew the scenery.

Manipulative Bastard: As his interactions with Senator Crane demonstrate, Durant is a master of psychological manipulation.

Not Me This Time: When a Marshall confronts him over a particular crime, Durant notes he has no clue what he's talking about. Ironically, for the one time in the series, Durant is telling the truth. Doesn't save him from the Marshall's wrath, though.

Pet the Dog: Most of his interactions with Mrs. Bell show his kinder nature.

Dropped a Bridge on Him: After going half a season thinking he got eaten by a bear, we finally discover he survived the attack, but the injuries he sustained likely left him with PTSD. This combined with the fact that he apparently developed amnesia after being rescued, nursed back to health and converted by the Comanches. He later returns to Cheyenne, clearly deranged and attempting to sell three women as if they were slaves. After repeated attempts to get through to him, a fight escalates between him and Bohannon, and ends when Bohannon shoots Elam.

Eye Scream: After being attacked by a bear, his eye is left blinded and pulpy white.

Never Found the Body: After going after Bohannon, he was never found. He is shown in season 4 to have been taken in by Comanches after his fight with a bear and slowly going out of his mind, which ends very badly for him once he decides to return to Cheyenne.

Social Climber: a recently freed slave, Elam sees the signs of a future, career, money, and status as possibilities for him for the first time. His aspirations to make something of himself frequently conflict with his fellow black companions as well as how he looks down on Eva.

Took a Level in Badass: Multiple. He starts the series as a common worker of Durant, but after some bouts with the Irish and Bohannon's training, Fergurson becomes a expert marksman, second only to Bohannon himself in Hell On Wheels.

Lily Bell

Damsel out of Distress: Lily Bell stabs the man who killed her husband with his own arrow, treks however many miles alone and sews up her own wound before she's rescued.

Determinator: Crawled through some five miles of mud, with an arrow wound on her hand, starving and without water, as she was pursued by Indians. Most people would go home and rest after such a experience. Mrs.Bell instead went right back to work.

Guile Heroine: Lily is clever enough to impress Durant, and is matches him in knowledge of economics and psychology. A fitting example being when she escaped a murder attempt by convicing the assassin to side with her.

Idle Rich: Is pressured by nearly everyone all around her to sit back and simply be "The Fair Haired Maiden of the West", a pretty little mascot to bring around to parties. But Lily refuses to go back to the shallow comforts of the rich and lazy, and firmly makes a place for herself in Hell on Wheels.

Sacrificial Lion: Her death is the final straw on Bohannon's sanity, and The Swede's final work.

Silk Hiding Steel: Bell is a Proper Lady of highest kind, polite and civil in all occasions, but do not try to push her around, for she ''will' fight back with all she has.

Stuffed in the Fridge: She is murdered by the Swede not because of her brilliant mind or her plot to overthrow Durante, he even admits she never did a single thing wrong to him, but simply because her death would make Bohannon bummed out.

Recurring Characters

Reverend Cole

Played by: Tom Noonan

"Mr. Bohannon, did the good Lord save you from hanging so you could drown yourself in whiskey?"

Only Sane Man: The matter is Indians where he is the only person to even consider the possibility of peace.

Preacher Man: Started off as this, gets more ambiguous as season progresses.

Sanity Slippage: After the Cheyenne Attack on the railroad, he becomes unhinged and becomes alcoholic. It only gets worse and worse from there.

Straight Edge Evil: Played with. He starts his sanity slippage and descent into evil by drinking himself to oblivion, but is little more than a Cloud Cuckoo Lander at that point, he only becomes truly evil after he stops drinking.

Joseph Black Moon

The Atoner: For his past misdeeds of brutal mass murder and scalping during his time as an Indian Warrior.

Put on a Bus: He becomes thoroughly and utterly disgusted by Hell on Wheels and the western culture, and ultimately decides to return to his tribe. As the railroad continues to move ever onward, Joseph stays behind.

Shoot the Dog: Or knife the Reverend rather, the only way to stop his murderous rampage.

Star-Crossed Lovers: With Ruth. Fate always intervenes when they're about to get together. He even proposed to her and admitted his love for Ruth, but she turned him down due to the stigma their relationship would create and ended any chance of being together.

Eva

Played by: Robin McLeavy

"He's paying me, just like he pays you. The only difference being, I don't gotta kill nobody."

Bi the Way: Seems willing to sleep with Louise in a moment of grief, but Louise refuses.

Butt-Monkey: Suffers one indignity and trauma after another, especially in season four in which she no longer has her baby, loses Elam twice, is violently raped, and becomes a cold, reckless drunk.

Tattoo as Character Type: The tattoo on Eva's mouth, signifying her history as a captive living amongst the Native Americans. (Based on a True Story - a Mormon girl named Olive Oatman was kidnapped my natives in 1851 and released five years later with an identical tattoo.)

Pet the Dog: When he finds out Eva is pregnant by another man. He figures out that it's Elam but instead of killing one or both of them gives Elam a What the Hell, Hero? speech and returns to comfort Eva, apparently willing to accept the child as his own.

Odd Friendship: With one of the black workers (keep in mind this man tried to hang Fergurson for no other reason other than being black a few episodes before). It was the result of his HeelFaith Turn after Elam's bullet incredibly didn't kill him.

Pawnee Killer

Played by: Gerald Auger

Cain and Abel: The Cain to Moon's Able because of his extreme measures.

Beware the Nice Ones: Mickey. Just ask the Butcher (whom he butchered) Or Carl (whom he blackmailed for being an asshole).

Brains and Brawn: Sean is the brains, Mickey is the brawn. This is Lampshaded by Sean early in the second season. The dynamic is played with later, when Mickey acquires a better sense of judgement than Sean in a few occasions and fully subverted in Season 3 where Mickey becomes far more intelligent than Sean, who is much more prone to mistakes.

Cain and Abel: Season 3 sees the brothers getting increasingly more antagonistic towards each other. In the end, the Abel kills the Cain: Mickey shoots Sean when he gets out of control.

Did You Just Flip Off Durant?: Mickey is a pimp, Durant is a master manipulator and one of the wealthiest and most influential men in America who could destroy him with a flick of his wrist, yet Mickey is not afraid to lay the verbal smackdown on Durant, and he barely flinches when Durant makes his (very serious) threats.

Know When to Fold 'Em: In season four, after losing his quarrel with John Campbell upon the arrival of union soldiers, Mickey accepts defeat and decides to leave Cheyenne with his whores, his Dead Rabbit friend and Eva.

Love Makes You Crazy: Sean suffers from this. Unless stalking people in the night is a sign of sanity.

Noodle Incident: Mickey did something in Boston. We're never told what, exactly. Until season 3's "It happened in Boston", in which Mickey explains to us that Sean fell in love with two girls, did some horrifying crime to both of them in a fit of rage. Although it is implied Mickey may well have been lying and was himself the guilty participant.

Not So Different: Sean had a burning hatred for the Swede and his way of doing business, but after the Swede is down, he ends up conducting business with the same methods. He does not realize the similarity.

The Sociopath: Very likely Mickey. It is strongly implied that he murdered the two girls in Boston and later shot his brother in the back when Sean was on the verge of revealing it to Ruth. His creepy conversation with Eva about how "all women are whores, except my mum" while bathing her after she's raped is just as telling. On top of all this, we must also consider his willingness to do things like assassinate people and dismember corpses.

Spanner in the Works: Mickey is indirectly the cause for the assault on Durant, due to his murder of Jessup.

Ruth Cole

Played by: Kasha Kropinski

"God can have a sense of humor too, Mr. Bohannan."

Badass Preacher: for most of the show's run, she is a fairly pacifistic character, able to see the good in most people. Until Sidney Snow's actions kill her adoptive son, and she shoots him with a truly blood-chilling look of rage on her face

Break the Cutie: Woman cannot catch a break. From losing her father to being stalked by Sean to watching Sean get brutally gunned down in front of her. Finally, she goes over the edge when she loses the Mormon boy she viewed as her own son to her church burning down, and takes revenge on the man responsible. After refusing to be pardoned for this crime and continuing to plead guilty, she is executed at a public hanging..

Not So Different: The episode "Bleeding Kansas" seems to suggest she is this to her father. In the end, they both die as murderers.

Parental Abandonment: Cole hasn't seen her for most (if not all) of her life, despite knowing of her existence.

Star-Crossed Lovers: With Joseph. Fate always seems to get in the way when they're close to being together.

Later with Bohannon. Near the end of her arc, she confesses to being in love with him, but was too cowardly to make him hers. They truly became star-crossed when Cullen got Naomi Hatch pregnant and was forced into marrying her by her Mormon family.

Token Good Teammate: She's probably the only member of the railroad who doesn't have some sort of innocent blood on her hands. Until she shoots Sidney Snow, not that he really counts as "innocent blood"

Values Dissonance: Is kind even to those she considers Godless heathens...such as for instance Catholics and Mormons, who she believes to be doomed to Hell.

Many Horses

Played by: Wes Studi

"It is good to make this sacrifice where the sun can look down and see you. It is a great privilege to dance with the sun."

Fong/Mei

Damsel in Distress: becomes this when Chang and his company men chase after her once Chang learns her secret.

The Determinator: A good portion of episode 5x06 deals with Mei trying to return her father's body to China. Eventually becomes Know When to Fold 'Em after setbacks during her and Cullen's journey force them to abandon that goal and bury her father in the woods.

Sweet Polly Oliver: disguises herself as a man in order to escape being the bride of a rebel leader from the Taiping Rebellion.She also mentions that if found, she will be made a prostitute by the Sze Yup.

Troubled Backstory Flashback: We see her transformation into Fong happen during a flashback; her village is in the process of being burned down/attacked by Taiping rebels while she disguises herself.

Being Tortured Makes You Evil: The Swede was once a kindly quartermaster who would willingly starve to ensure his comrades didn't go without what little food they were given while imprisoned. An extended stay in Andersonville changed all that.

Berserk Button: He hates Cullen Bohannon, dedicating a great deal of his time to messing with the man's life.

Also, he is not Swedish. He is Norwegian. Even when posing as a godly American Mormon, he angrily reminds the indignant Bohannon that "the late Mister Thor Gunderson was Norwegian!"

Big Bad: Of the second season, where most of the conflict is directly related to his machinations.

Corrupt Hick: Despite being a northerner and an Immigrant, he fits this trope to a T. When he's not out being the Hanging Judge, he's shaking down businesses and bribing officials to look the other way while he robs his employer.

The Corrupter: Cole already had a few problems before him, but it was The Swede who gave him his final push into villainy. Also attempts this on Bohannon for very little reason other than "why not".

Evil Counterpart / Foil: As the man himself notes, The Swede is, essentially, Bohannon's dark side personified: A ruthless murderer addicted to battle and killing itself. He is a constant reminder of Bohannon's capacity for evil.

Evil Laugh: A very bizarre, very foreign "hooting" sound that leaves Bohannon with a bemused expression.

Lost in Character: As "Bishop Dutson." He gets so wrapped up in selling his religious ecstasy that Bohannon is able to get him to unintentionally admit to the Mormons that he's not who he says he is.

Made of Iron: Shrugs off third-degree burns without further thought after an afternoon of rest. And then he comes back, even though he fell off a significant height into shallow water, in a shot that heavily implied he died on impact.

It is implied that this is what he will be now that Brigham Young has taken him under his wing.

Manipulative Bastard: Plays Durant's feeling for Lily to his advantage, plays Crane's greed to his advantage, plays Cole's disillusion to his advantage, plays Lily's good heart to his advantage, e.t.c

Mood Dissonance: Waltzes around in complete happiness while the town burns to ashes

Not Quite Dead: Turns out falling from a bridge face-first into the water didn't kill him.

Not So Different: He often describes how similar he and Bohannon are in terms of their murderous tendencies and their propensity for spreading death wherever they go. Whenever Bohannon tries to condemn him, Gundersen often describes how Bohannon is little better is in acts.

Thor Gundersen: If your misguided sense of justice requires that I hang for my crimes? Surely you can understand that you must hang there beside me for yours. The bodies you have piled up do not disappear when you bury them away out of sight. You bring death everywhere.

Out of Focus: His quest to infiltrate the Mormon religion after his faked death in the season two finale has been disconnected from the main Hell on Wheels setting for two seasons now. While not uninteresting, it feels almost out of place. Though, it's clear he's quite desperate to make his return back to the railroad business.

Sadist: Just wants to watch the world burn and enjoys watching other people suffer, particularly Bohannon.

John Campbell

Played by: Jake Weber

Anti-Climax Boss: In season four, he has several intimidating encounters with Bohannon, Durant and Mickey, but nothing really ever comes of it. While he does a good job at upping his game and staying on top, the closest he gets to an actual confrontation is when he and Durant get into a brawl in the season four finale.

The Dreaded: Seems to have a reputation as an uncompromising though somewhat controversial enforcer of justice. He is personally chosen by Ulysses Grant to govern Cheyenne.

Fish out of Water: He and his entourage are clearly more accustomed to the norms of a city as opposed to the seedy railroad town of Hell On Wheels. Nevertheless, they manage to stir quite a bit of trouble in the form of law and order.

Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While he can be outrageously macho and authoritarian, as well as being no stranger to ruthless underhanded tactics, Campbell's intentions are mostly pure. He can be seen aiding the rest of the community gathering water to the burning church.

Judge, Jury, and Executioner: Due the lack of a working law system in Hell on Wheels, him and his crew (about five people) are a walking courtroom that trials anything unlawful on their path.

Rules Lawyer: Makes this trope into an art form to take power of Hell on Wheels by any means necessary.

Twilight of the Old West: While not explicitly linked to this trope, Campbell (as Lampshaded by several character) is almost a physical representation of it: A bringer of order in the lawless lands of the West, civilizing it, taming it and stopping the "any man makes his own law" behavior that characterizes the period and the genre.

Well-Intentioned Extremist: While he does do some pretty shady things from time to time, his sole goal is to bring civilization and order to Hell on Wheels.

Campbell's Men

Avengingthe Villain: Assaulting Durant was Heckards way of getting revenge for Jessups death. Too bad for him he got the wrong guy

Hanging Judge: Death by hanging is the only sentence that Judge Webber has doled out, whether or not it was the right call to make.

Kangaroo Court: If having one member of the group serve as the sole witness while the verdict being at least partially determined by the group leaders will isnt unfair, this troper doesnt know what is. Their trials are even referred to as this by Louise Ellison.

Last-Name Basis: Almost always referred to by their family names, with the occasional job title thrown in. Heckards given name, Dwight, is not revealed until Under Color of Law when Sydney arrests Durant for his murder.

Suddenly Sexuality: With no clear implications beforehand, Heckard admits to having been in love with another man. Its unknown, however, if he would qualify as gay or bisexual (given his apparent pass at Naomi in 'Chicken Hill').

The Sociopath: An apt description for both Jessup and Heckard, the latter especially.

Those Two Guys: Marshal Jessup and Heckard are rarely seen apart. As partners in law enforcement, it could be because of this profession; however, the last scene of Lifes a Mystery gives some additional context.

Sidney Snow

Alas, Poor Villain: As he sits bleeding to death after an escape attempt, Snow reminisces a sad tale about a Union soldier he had found on a battlefield missing half his body and then asks Bohannon to tell Ruth he didn't mean to kill Ezra.

Cruel and Unusual Death: After sustaining painful gunshot wounds to the stomach and leg, and subsequently the painful process of removing those bullets, Snow tries to escape and ends up tearing his wounds open again. This forces Bohannon and Durant to saw off his leg as he screams horrifically. Hours later, he tries to escape again out a window, opening up his leg wound. He slowly bleeds to death.

The Drifter: He's apparently just been roaming from place to place and getting into trouble after the war.

Even Evil Has Standards: He notably lowers his gun when he finds Naomi and her baby cowering in a corner after very nearly shooting them. Not that this excuses the fact that he killed a young boy and a helpless store owner seconds earlier.

He is also clearly unsettled when he realizes he shot the kid. And later apologizes for causing Ezra's death.

Evil Counterpart: To Cullen Bohannon. While Bohannon is a stoic, brooding, dark anti-hero who regrets the bad things he does, Sidney Snow is an energetic, hedonistic, Affably EvilOutlaw who chooses to relish in the violence he commits.

Guns Akimbo: What he prefers. Looks especially cool when he's carrying two pearl-handled revolvers from Mexico.

Jerkass: He is an abrasive, racist, bloodthirsty, sociopathic loose cannon.

Lack of Empathy: Has the tendency to make light of innocent bystanders and partners in crime who are caught in the crossfire of his violence, even if he initially feels bad for their deaths.

Laser-Guided Karma: He burns down Ruth's church, killing her adopted son Ezra in the process. This results in Ruth's Despair Event Horizon, causing her to shoot Snow the next time she sees him. He does not fare well after this.

The Man They Couldn't Hang: He is introduced about to be hanged by a gangster in Mexico. While he and his partner manage to gun down the gangster and his two friends, Snow's partner dies in the process, leaving Snow hanging from the tree. He is able to cut the rope enough that it snaps shortly after Snow loses consciousness. He rides out of the desert and lands in Cheyenne later on.

Omnicidal Maniac: After losing to Bohannon and going on the run, Snow locks a large number of townspeople in the church and sets it on fire. Several people die, including young Ezra. He also looks back on a mass slaughter of wounded and defenseless Union soldiers that he and Cullen took part in as "only the best day of our lives," before describing the event with loving detail.

Stupid Evil: His brazen bad-boy antics often have devastating consequences that he barely acknowledges, increasing his problems and his tendency towards evil. There's also the two times he tries to escape during the surgery meant to save him from dying of gunshot wounds, both of which ruin all the efforts made to keep him alive.

Chang

"I hope one day, Mr. Huntington, to read about my business in the same magazines I read about yours."

Affably Evil: An unfailingly well-dressed, well-spoken, polite, and courteous ruthless mob boss who exploits his workers, runs a gang of thugs to "discipline" any who cross him, and fought for a brutal theocratic regime during the Taiping Rebellion.

Falsely Reformed Villain: After Bohannon and Ah Tao outwit him and break the strike without Chang getting any benefit from it, he pretends to extend the olive branch to them, only to have Ah Tao brutally assassinated in public, with no chance of justice.

Man of Wealth and Taste: Never seen in anything less than a three-piece suit, fancier than anything anyone else (including Huntington or Durant) ever wears.

Small Name, Big Ego: He is of great importance to the railroad, but he lets it get to his head and begins to believe himself utterly irreplaceable. He also greatly overestimates how much people respect him and how important of a businessman he is, as pointed out by both Huntington (who calls him a "whore-minder" to his face) and the Sze Yup General after Bohannon kills Chang, and business between the Sze Yup Company and Central Pacific continues unabated.

Sociopathic Soldier: Fought for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the notoriously brutal, repressive theocracy that was responsible for massacring thousands of Chinese civilians and displacing thousands more, which is the reason most of the Chinese immigrant laborers (including Fong and Ah Tao) are in the US in the first place. He's heavily implied to have willingly and gleefully taken part in the massacres.

The Triads and the Tongs: Strictly speaking, they didn't exist yet (at least not in their modern form), but Chang and his ilk seem to be a kind of precursor to them — he primarily deals in smuggling people, opium, and guns from Guangdong to California.

Dogged Nice Guy: His persistence about wanting to whisk Eva and her baby away to live happily in New York is not well received by her and Elam.

Establishing Character Moment: He walks out of a train, sees a thief robbing a man, promptly beats the thief down and gives the man his walllet back. This establishes Declan as a man of old-fashioned values in the crapsack world that is Hell on Wheels.

Honor Before Reason: His motivation is taking Eva's baby (with her consent) to give it a better life. No matter how much trouble even suggesting that causes him.

Nerves of Steel: Impressively coolheaded when he's captured by Elam and Psalms and threatened with death. He's able to walk away relatively unharmed, whereas his brother's mouth would have likely gotten him beaten to a pulp.

Louise Ellison

The Conscience: She often assumes this role alongside Ruth and Bohannon.

Dating Catwoman: With John Campbell, who she challenges publicly in her newspaper but also sleeps with behind closed doors.

Intrepid Reporter. She is at Hell On Wheels to cover the building of the railroad and does so as honestly as possible

Lipstick Lesbian/Ambiguously Bi: She got shipped out west at least partly to keep her away from her boss' daughter but she didn't seem to mind when Bohannon kissed her either. She didn't really respond but that could have been just because she was shocked and surprised.

In season four, she begins an affair with Governor John Campbell so it's likely she just swings both ways.

Rape as Drama: She is sexually assaulted by the same man who later rapes Eva. She witnesses Eva kill him and keeps it a secret.

Unwitting Pawn: Durant pointed her towards the murders Bohannon commited in revenge and then used her story against him at the trial.

Martin Delaney

Played by: David Wilson Barnes

BFG: Wields a mounted Gatling Gun at one point  and does quite a good job with it, I might add.

Butt-Monkey: Sure, he held the prestigious post of Chief Engineer for the Union Pacific, but it certainly wasnt because of his engineering degree  the people who appointed him to the job considered him so dim-witted that he would be easy to manipulate. The two worst blows came in season five: his wife filed for divorce, and then he was killed as the improvised part of Durants latest money-making scheme. The plot went awry anyway, making his death completely pointless.

Community

Tropes HQ

TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Privacy Policy